Smugglers' Reign
by KAStone
Summary: One year after the destruction of the second Death Star, the Galactic Civil War has yet to come to a close. The few dying fragments of the Empire have begun to take drastic measures to ensure their survival. Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo set out to face an enemy that just might be one they never saw coming.
1. Chapter 1

**This is the first Fan Fiction that I've posted and actually the first I wrote. I have been in love with the Star Wars universe since I was a kid and have always preferred the Original characters to the prequel. I really appreciate reviews, even if you didn't like it. I will try to update as often as possible and at least once a month.**

* * *

Luke Skywalker was one with the Force. He felt everything; his X-wing's steady, almost organic, hum, the frantic crew of the Star Cruiser, the voices in the comm link headset he wore, and even the rest of Rouge Squadron outside the ship in the vacuum of space. But the only thing that he was focused on were the hostile TIE fighters attempting to blast their way through the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser's minimal defenses. He felt the unique mind of the clone pilots. He knew that it would be so easy to just take control. To just kill them from within. But he also knew the dangers that would arise from following that path, the path of the dark side. Instead , Luke fired off three shots, all hitting their mark.

"Nice one kid!" Han shouted through the comm, awakening Luke from his trance. He opened his eyes and saw the last fighter go up in a ball of flame.

"I think that's all of 'em," observed Wedge Antilles from his X-wing fighter.

"Looks like it," Han agreed from the _Millennium Falcon_. These small attacks by the slowly withering Empire were becoming more and more trivial every day. It had been almost a year since the destruction of the second Death Star during the Battle of Endor, and the war was all but over. Almost as soon as the reports of the Emperor and Darth Vader's deaths hit the news vids, internal power struggles began to cripple the Empire more than rebel attacks. It seemed that everyone but the Empire could see the inevitable outcome. Isn't that, though, what everyone thought about the Alliance, and they'd pulled through?

Right now, the Alliance of Free Planets, as they were now called, were based out of the Correllian System. It was considered an optimal position, centrally located and close to the Core. It was also close to Coruscant, the Imperial capitol. Luke didn't really think it mattered either way, considering the Alliance "capitol" changes every other week.

They were trying to establish some sort of of actual government for the Alliance. By "they" he meant Mon Mothma, one of the founders of the Alliance, Admiral Ackbar, the military genius behind the Battle of Endor as well as others, and his sister, Leia. Leia's adoptive father, Bail Organa was a senator of the Old Republic, and, like Mon Mothma, founded the Alliance. He was killed when Leia's home planet of Alderaan was destroyed by the first Death Star. Darth Vader had ordered the destruction after he had discovered Leia's involvement with the rebels and that she had been spying for them in the Imperial Senate. She had been devastated for months afterward and was still convinced that it was her fault. When Luke had told her that Vader was her father, she hadn't taken it very well.

Luke had spent the last year honing his Jedi skills and flying under his friend Wedge Antilles and Rouge Squadron. He was really debating on resigning and focusing all of his energy on finding Jedi prospects to train, but then he remembered that he was supposed to be teaching Leia. She was really struggling. He was really, kind of selfishly, hoping that the problem was her and not his teaching methods.

"Well you guys can fly around here all you want," Han stated, "but I'm going in."

"Alright," Luke said, "We'll call you if anything life-threatening happens."

"You'd better!" he replied before signing off. Luke smiled. Han was only ever involved in things that held his attention. As soon as he got bored, he found something else to do. His single-mindedness was what got him to stick around in the first place, only it wasn't the cause he was focused on.

"I think it's clear for us to head in too," Wedge announced.

"All the scans are coming in empty," Luke agreed.

"Okay, let's do one more sweep for good measure."

"Alright," Luke answered as he set the coordinates. A monotonous sweep would probably help clear his thoughts.

* * *

"Yeah, sure, go ahead," Han told his copilot, Chewbacca.

Chewie growled and gestured toward the hyperdrive.

"Yeah go ahead," he insisted, "just, if you think you need to fix it, just go ahead."

Han turned back to the main power couplings. There seemed to always be something on his ship to fix, but at least she always seemed to pull through when he needed her. Han had always found it easy to fix things. It was easy for him to see exactly what was wrong and how it was supposed to go. His semi-reliable- as Leia would have put it- ship provided him with endless opportunities to lose himself in mechanics.

The comm buzzed in his shirt pocket and he cursed loudly. Couldn't anyone just give him a minute?

"What?" he answered.

"General Solo," Mon Mothma responded.

"What did I not do now?"

"Nothing. At least not that I've heard of yet."

"Then what do you need?" Leia would have scolded him for being rude, but he didn't care. He was busy.

"We can't reach Senator Organa. We were hoping you'd know where she is."

"No, I haven't seen her, but I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, I appre-" Han turned off the comm before she could finish.

Han sighed as he wiped his hands on his shirt. Sometimes he wondered how they could ever hope to win the war with leaders like this. Knowing Leia, she was probably in her apartment with her comm turned off. He saw who the smarter one was there.

Oh, well. He'd been meaning to go see her anyway.

Leia's apartment was on one of the higher levels of the Alliance base. They followed Coruscant tradition here, higher level meant higher status. He didn't have to wait for her to let him in either. He'd been here enough, he knew the code.

The second he opened the door his ears were attacked by some kind of Alderaanian mainstream song with an excessively emphasized bass. Leia was sitting on the couch cross-legged with a datapad in her lap. Her protocol droid, See Threepio, intercepted Han as he entered.

"General Solo! It's so good to see you-"

"Yeah, can it, Goldenrod," Han interrupted.

"Threepio, you can go," Leia said, saving him from wasting more of his life listening to that prissy droid. Threepio wandered off to a different part of the apartment. "Hey, Han," Leia said without looking up.

"Hey," he replied.

"Did you fix the hyperdrive coolants?"

"Well, someone wants to get straight to the point."

"Sorry, I didn't know that was a sensitive topic," Leia's voice dripped with sarcasm as she didn't look up from her datapad.

"I'll have you know that I have fixed the hyperdrive coolants."

She finally looked up and raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "No you didn't," she decided, returning her gaze to her work.

"What makes you think that?" Han defended.

"Two reasons," Leia began typing, "One: I don't think it will ever be fixed. Two: You're a terrible liar."

"Isn't that kinda a good thing?" He asked, smiling.

"I suppose so," she said, smiling back, "Now, what do you want?"

"I came to see you," Han said sitting next to her. "I haven't seen you in a while."

She put down the datapad. "Yeah a whole forty-eight hours."

He kissed her once on the cheek and tried to move towards her mouth, but she pulled away.

"Okay," she said obviously trying to change the subject, "why are you _really_ here?"

"What, you don't believe me?" he asked innocently.

"I told you. You're a terrible liar."

"Fine," he said, throwing up his hands in a sign of defeat, "Mon Mothma is looking for you."

"Yeah, I bet," she muttered.

"What happened?" he inquired.

"Nothing," she defended, "I just-"

He gave her a look that read "I know you're not telling me the truth and I'm just going to bother you until you do".

She sighed. "Alright, fine. I've been doing some," she paused, searching for the right word, "research on some things that might finally help us end this war."

He smiled playfully at her, "What did you do?" When Leia wanted something, there was nothing in the galaxy that could keep her from it.

She smiled back. "I told you- research." She moved so he could see her datapad. She touched a couple different icons and pulled up a holomap. "Tell me what you see."

Han looked at the map. He touched the holo and zoomed in on the part he thought he recognized. There were four planets. Three of them he knew very well. "That's Hutt space," he stated. "There's Nal Hutta, Nar Shaddaa, Ylesia. And I think that's Toydaria."

"Exactly. What else do you see?"

This was an area of the galaxy that Han knew very well, and didn't have very fond memories of. If Leia was trying to show him something out of the ordinary, he should have seen it by now. Then he noticed something in the shadow of Nal Hutta. Something that definitely shouldn't be there.

"Star Destroyers? Is this recent? What's the Empire doing in Hutt space?"

"That's what we wanted to know too. So, I took the liberty of figuring it out on my own, which Mon Mothma probably isn't very happy about. I've been trying to read this damned transport record for an hour now, but it's not getting me anywhere."

Han watched her read. Her brow was furrowed with concentration, and her dark eyes shone with intensity. Her long hair was pulled up in to a simple yet extravagant braid. Most people didn't get to see this side of her. The side that wore a casual white tunic and loose fitting gray pants. The side that went out of her way to get exactly what she wanted. The side that Han was in love with. He put his arm around her and this time she didn't pull away. Instead, she leaned back and rested her head on his shoulder.

"You know," he stated, "I should probably be trying to stop you."

She looked at him. "And why aren't you?"

"Mutual curiosity," he answered.

She turned back to the datapad. Han understood most of what she was reading, but he didn't think he'd be able to give too much valuable input. He was having a hard time trying to keep up with her scrolling; she was either skimming it, or she was an even faster reader than he thought.

"Are you even reading all that?" he asked.

"Yeah," she stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Oh, this is interesting."

"What?"

"Look. There was a old Clone Wars age transport supposedly taking weapons out to the Republic base at Kuat. Now it'd probably take a ship like that, what, a week to make it out there, plus another back?"

"Yeah, about."

"Well this says that it made there and back in six days. There's no way it could ever do that, at least not without some major _Falcon_-style modifications."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," he stated.

"Maybe it was intended to be," she added.

"Was it?" he asked.

"I'm not telling."

"Okay, fine. But what does this have to do with Imperials in Hutt Space?"

The excitement vanished from her eyes as she noticed the lack of a connection. "I don't know," she sighed, sitting up to the datapad down on the small table in front of her. She put her head between her knees, exhausted.

"Hey," Han said, awkwardly trying to comfort her, "even if it doesn't connect, it's still probably something." He rubbed his hand between her shoulder blades, trying to coax her into straightening.

She sat up and said, "I know, it's just, I feel like I'm doing everything I can, but it's not doing anything."

"I know," he said, "I know." He pulled her in for an awkward sideways hug. He wasn't very good at this boyfriend stuff that Leia needed.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I know," he said. This time, when Han went to kiss her, she let him. Han felt her relax, probably for the first time in two days, and kissed her harder. She kissed him back. He could have stayed there with her forever. He _wanted _to stay there forever. He pulled her closer to him. He took her lack of usual hesitancy as an invitation and made his move to go a little farther. As soon as his hand touched her skin, however, she tensed in his arms and pulled away.

"No," she whispered, "I can't." She stood up and turned away from him. He knew from past experience that if this hadn't been her apartment, she would have left. He always did this too. Always did something stupid that made their normal awkward atmosphere return.

"I'm sorry," He apologized, standing. "You should probably talk to Mon Mothma, it might just be important." He started to walk to the door when she stopped him.

"Hey," she called. He looked over his shoulder. "I'll see you later?" she asked, apologizing in her own way for her reaction.

"Yeah," he assured.

Leia watched him leave, silently cursing to herself. Why did she always do this? Why couldn't she just accept his love? She could tell he was trying to make her happy. He always did. She knew she loved him too, she just couldn't bring herself to accept it. She hated making him leave like that. Part of her wanted to chase after him and never let him leave her side again. Another part hoped that he wouldn't come back. And another part was still working on processing all of her emotions.

She sighed and pulled her comm out of her pocket. Maybe it was important.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter introduces a new main character of my own creation named Rydam Tevine. I really like this character and I hope you do too after you start to learn more about his past. Again I really appreciate reviews!**

* * *

Rydam Tevine lit another death stick and walked farther down the alley. His contact had better be here. He was sick of all these games. Third supposed meeting this week. If only his smuggling career was enough to pay his bills, he wouldn't be here at all.

He reached the end of the alley where he was supposed to wait behind an old cantina. He was looking through the cantina's dirty back window when he felt something pull his leg.

"You give credit sir?" begged a dirty old woman at his feet, "You give credit?"

"Get away, you filthy beggar!" spat Rydam as he kicked her away. These streets are getting dirtier and dirtier by the day. What was happening to Nar Shaddaa? He crossed the alley to the other side where he waited for his contact. He waited for what seemed like an eternity. _I'll give them ten more minutes, _he thought. _Hell, I should just leave now. I don't need this. But if it pays off... _Just then, a hooded man approached him from behind.

"Tevine?" Rydam whispered. The figure nodded. "Alright then, well, out with it what do you need?"

"I need your... unique... skill set. I believe that you will be able to help my boss get rid of something... irritating." The man's voice was deep and commanding. He seemed very sure of himself. There was an accent that he couldn't quite place, but he knew wasn't from around here.

Rydam flicked the burnt end of his death stick and stepped on it. "What's the cargo?" he inquired.

The man laughed, "Not a smuggling run."

Rydam was confused. "What then?"

"Assassination."

He swallowed, "That's not really my line of work,"

"Are you sure about that, Mr. Tevine? Because I have plenty of reports that say otherwise."

"I don't know what you're talking about." _Great job Rydam. Now what have you gotten into?_

"I think you know perfectly well what I'm referring to, Mr. Tevine." He pulled out a datapad. "Sullust, Correllia, Bothawui. My, my, you do get around, don't you? Oh, here, this is interesting. This says that you blasted through an entire civilian village while attempting to attack an Imperial base on Kuat. Two hundred casualties, one hundred forty-three women and children. All led by one man named Adan Ledder, who was supposedly deceased one year ago in a terrible starfighter accident. Now tell me, Mr. _Tevine_, don't you think that's just terrible?"

"How did you find out?" Rydam whispered.

"Let's just say I have my resources. I'll bet the Empire would be very pleased to hear that you are still alive, hm?"

"Yeah, I bet."

"How about this: you hold up your end of the deal, and my boss makes sure the Empire doesn't get this information?"

Rydam knew there was no way out of this mess. Once you got the attention of someone important, they never left you alone. The only way out is to become someone else, so that's what he did. Not this time though.

Rydam sighed, "Who's the target?"

Rydam could sense the man's smirk beneath his hood. Something that he knew couldn't hold anything good.

* * *

Leia sat around the conference table wishing she could've been anywhere else. Mon Mothma was sitting directly across from her, Admiral Ackbar to Leia's direct left. Between them was Bothan senator Borsk Fey'lya. On Mon Mothma's left was General Rieekan and next to him was Han.

As soon as she had contacted Mon Mothma she had explained that she hadn't found anything out about the Hutt Space deal, but she intentionally left out the mysterious ship records. She had told Leia that was actually why she had contacted her. She didn't seem even the slightest upset that she hadn't found anything. It was almost like some kind of test. They were supposed to be equals, more or less. She didn't need this kind of "mentorship". She realized during her silent fuming that Mon Mothma was treating her like a replacement of her father. That she saw her as an inexperienced kid. Leia hadn't felt like a kid since she was twelve. She wasn't trying to be her father. She didn't _want_ to be her father. She just wanted... hell, she didn't even _know _what she wanted anymore. She always seemed to be putting every possible thing she could in front of herself.

She glanced over at Han. He was leaning on one arm of his chair trying his best to look unprofessional. He had some kind natural repellant against people of authority. Something that had irritated her from the moment she first met him. She wondered if she could go back to earlier that day, if she would've done something different. _Probably not, _she thought, _I'll probably never be able to._

"What do you think Leia?" Rieekan asked her.

It took her a second to realize that she hadn't been paying attention, realize that everyone was staring at her, and rack her brain for the parts of the conversation she had actually heard. "Well I agree that there are reasons why we decided not to talk to the Hutts about some kind of treaty. I'm not sure if the Empire hasn't come to the same conclusion or if they're just desperate, but I think that we need to make sure that no deal is made between them."

"I think we need to actually find out what's going on before we can make a decision," Fey'lya added. His accented Basic made it hard to differentiate tones in his voice, but his mane ruffled in a way that could be interpreted as annoyance.

Mon Mothma took control of the situation before Fey'lya could get into one of his trademark arguments contradicting everything that Leia said. "General Solo, I think you have more knowledge about the Hutts than the rest of us. What is your opinion?"

"Well, the Hutts don't really make _deals, _more like demands," he glanced over at Leia, "They won't make any kind of deal unless every part of it benefits them. So," he said looking back at Mon Mothma, "the Empire would have to be hopelessly desperate to even think about dealing with them. Which means that there's gotta be some kind of conflict going on between them, or they wouldn't have a reason to send Star Destroyers to a part of the galaxy that they've never had a reason to be in. There are, though, reasons to be there other than to meet with the Hutts. There's smugglers everywhere, especially on Nar Shaddaa. It's also a pretty out of the way place for some kind of internal meeting."

"They could just be trying to lead us on," Leia mentioned, staring at Han, "Maybe they don't mean anything at all, and we're getting all worked up over nothing."

"They've got to have some kind of motive," he shot back, "They would never waste lowering their minimal defenses for something that wasn't important."

"A successful ruse has to be believable, Han," she pointed out.

"I think you're just being paranoid, and there is actually some kind of purpose behind this-"

"I think you should-"

Rieekan cleared his throat, reminding them of their setting. Leia made a silent vow to finish their conversation later. "Well, I think we've all come to the agreement that this situation is worth investigating?" he asked. Everyone voiced their agreement. "Good, Dismissed."

Han stood up immediately and left without a second glance. Leia hurried after him, dodging everyone's attempted small talk. "Han!" she called.

He stopped and sarcastically asked, "Yes, Your Worship?"

Leia fought off a sense of Déjà vu as she demanded, "What the hell was that?"

"What?"

"You know what!"

"Look, Princess," he snapped, "I was talking about the issue with the Empire. I don't know what you got from that, but it didn't mean anything."

"Obviously it did, or you wouldn't be avoiding me right now,"

"Who said I was avoiding you? You need a serious reality check Princess."

"Stop that. You never call me that unless you're upset." He started to walk away again, but Leia placed a hand on his shoulder. "Han," she said, a nicer tone returning to her voice, "please. I'm sorry. I just- I guess I'm just scared."

He took her hand. "You don't have to be. I promise I will _never_ hurt you." There was something in his eyes that Leia had never seen before. A kind of sincerity, almost determination. She couldn't help but believe him. "I love you, Princess," he whispered.

"I know," she whispered back, smiling at their private joke.

"You know what I think?" he asked her.

"Hm?"

"I think we just secured us a trip out to Hutt space."

"You can't be serious?" she asked pulling away, "Are you crazy?"

"I am serious, and yes," he said taking her hand back. "You know they're going to send somebody, and that somebody is going to be me. And I'm not leaving without you." She looked at him like he had just suggested they take a vacation into the heart of Imperial space. "Look, we'll convince Luke to come too. It'll give you time to work on all that Jedi stuff you're supposedly doing."

"Okay, I guess," she said with mock concern. He flashed his crooked smile at her again. As she walked with him, Leia thought that maybe, just maybe, she did know something that she wanted.


	3. Chapter 3

The shadow moved closer, its menacing, ominous stride striking Luke, rendering him frozen. But he had to move. Had to warn his friends. He had to warn them. But they were so far away, on the planet below. They needed to know. The shadow was closer now. _Snap-hiss_. A red light materialized in the shadow's hand. It was so close. He could hear it breathing. It was so loud. Why was it so loud? It was so familiar. It sounded like...

"Hey! Kid! Come on!"

Luke jerked awake. Han was shouting at him. He was still on the _Falcon_. It was just a dream.

"Come on. Get up. We're back in realspace." Han said.

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute," Luke responded.

Han turned to leave, but when he got to the door, he hesitated. He turned back and asked, "Hey, kid, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Luke assured him.

Han nodded turned back to the door. Luke waited until the door closed behind him before he let the dream invade his thoughts again. Was it just a bad dream, or was it something else? Was it a memory? The shadow, now that he thought about it, was strikingly similar to his father, Darth Vader. Why was his father haunting his dreams? _He's not, _Luke realized, _It's Darth Vader. It's my fear of what the dark side does to people. What I'm afraid I could become. _Luke wondered why his father's failure was bothering him so much. Whatever the reason was, he didn't have time to worry about it now. He had a job to do.

Leia was waiting for him with his lightsaber. Seeing her holding it gave Luke a whole new sense of anxiety. He had been working on her Jedi skills the whole trip, and she didn't seem to be getting any better. So, he decided to change his teaching techniques by starting where his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi had started with him.

"So what does that thing do?" she asked him, staring at the remote in Luke's hand. It was a sphere small enough to fit in the palm of Luke's hand. It was dotted with holes that made it look a little bit like a round die.

"This," Luke explained, "is hopefully going to help you feel the Force." He hit a switch and the remote hummed to life. It levitated at about head level, rotating in a seemingly random pattern, stopping suddenly and changing direction. "It's going to shoot harmless lasers at you, and all you have to do is block them with that." He gestured towards the lightsaber.

"Seems easy enough," Leia said uneasily.

"Good," Luke pulled out an old fighter helmet and handed it to her. "Put this on."

"But," she protested, "then I won't be able to see."

"Exactly, now put it on."

Leia sighed as she put the helmet on. She ignited the lightsaber.

"Ready?" Luke asked.

"As I'll ever be," she replied.

"Just try to _feel_ it." He started the remote. Leia immediately tensed. The remote fired off one shot. She attempted a simple block and took the laser to the wrist. "That was close, try again," Luke encouraged. Leia shook her head and took a deep breath. The remote fired another shot, and this time she made contact with the blade. The laser reflected harmlessly away. Luke fired off two more shots in succession. Leia parried both. Two more shots, two more blocks. He fired off three this time. She managed to get two before the remote spun behind her and got her in the small of the back before she could turn.

"Ah!" she exclaimed ripping off her helmet and throwing it down. "I should've had that."

"It's okay," Luke consoled, "You did great."

Han laughed from the doorway. Luke hadn't even noticed him. "Wow," he said, "and I thought it was entertaining watching you do that, kid!"

Leia turned on him with a look that could kill, but it only made Han laugh harder. She was only able to hold it for another few seconds before she lost it and laughed with him. "You," she said hitting him on the shoulder, "are just terrible. Don't you have a ship to fly?"

He kissed her on the forehead and returned to his pilot duties, still laughing.

"You did do well, you know," Luke said stifling a smile.

"Whatever. Start it again."

They were able to get a few more rounds in, Leia getting better each time, before Han called them to the cockpit for landing. Luke and Leia entered the cockpit and found their seats behind Han and Chewie. Threepio and Luke's astromech droid R2-D2 were arguing with the _Falcon_'s three-droid brain about something completely irrelevant.

"Hey, Goldenrod!" Han called back, "You better be doing something productive back there!"

"Hey, stop harassing the droids," Leia joked.

He didn't look away from the control panel. "Strap in sweetheart, I don't know how well this is gonna go."

"Han, when exactly was the last time you were on Nar Shaddaa?" Luke asked, worried.

"Uh, well, let's just say there's a certain person I'd like to avoid."

"Why?" Leia asked.

"Well, I didn't really leave last time on a high note." He looked excessively uncomfortable.

"What did you do to her?" she pressed.

"Wha-?" Han turned around to face her, his face turning red. "Who said it was a 'her'?"

He saw the answer in her eyes, _It's always a girl with you Solo. That's why I will never be able to trust you. _But she said instead with a smirk, "Lucky guess."

Luke watched them with curiosity. He respected their privacy, so he never really knew what was going on between his best friend and his sister. Some days they couldn't be in the same room without strangling each other, and other times you'd need a laser to pry their faces apart. He shook his head and sighed, he'd never understand their relationship.

Leia glared at him. "What?" she demanded.

Luke stifled a smile, "Nothing."

She gave him that look that seemed to bore into his soul and invade his innermost thoughts. He refrained from cringing or laughing and held her stare. He raised one eyebrow, then the other. She smiled against her will, and punched him playfully on the arm. Luke wondered if this was what they would've been like as kids, if they had been able to grow up together.

Chewbacca growled, interrupting Luke's thoughts.

"Yeah, stay on it," Han responded.

"Where are we going exactly?" Leia asked, seeming to already have forgotten their previous disagreement.

"An area of the smuggling district that I used to live in. I figured I might still be a name there." He pushed a couple buttons on the control panel and said, "Alright Chewie, go ahead and start the landing sequence."

* * *

"NO!" Rydam threw the datapad at the wall of his sleazy apartment. "I hate you!" he yelled to everyone and no one. "I didn't want to do this anymore!" He punched the permacrete wall, forming a fist-sized hole. He grabbed at his hair, wanting to tear off his scalp. He turned and flipped over the small table in his tiny living room. Papers and data chips flew in every direction. He kicked it once for good measure. Tears clouded his vision. He tried to wipe them away only to find that the knuckles on his right hand were bleeding. He clenched his fists and walked to the refresher to clean up.

He washed the blood off his fist and the tears off his face. He looked up into the mirror and stared straight into his reflection's bloodshot eyes. "You monster," he whispered to the mirror. After the Kuat incident, Rydam had invested everything he had into disappearing. He had his name changed along with his retinal patterns. He had cosmetic surgery to rearrange his entire face. He remembered the first time he saw his new face. He remembered thinking, _I'm no longer Adan. No, who's Adan? My name is Rydam. Rydam Tevine. I was born on Nar Shaddaa, not Alderaan. I've never even been there. Never seen those rolling hills, those- no. Don't think about that, any of it. You were never a rebel, never. You're just a lowly smuggler. Living a simple life in the Outer Rim. I don't know any Adan._

Adan Ledder had been a fair-haired boy with every Alderaanian feature in the book. He had smooth cheekbones and a round face. He'd had eyes of the brightest blue, and a sweet, lopsided smile that made girls swoon. He was a nice boy growing up, smart and helpful, until his home planet of Alderaan was destroyed by the Empire. Adan had been off planet that day, but he wished he wasn't. He had lost everything. The Empire deserved to die, and Adan would stop at nothing to make sure that happened. But Adan was a monster. He killed without remorse. He murdered innocent civilians without a second thought. But Adan was dead.

Rydam, on the other hand, had jet black hair and even darker eyes. He had the sharp, chiseled features of a man. He was thin, not malnourished, but thin. He tried to help people when he could, but mainly he just tried to stay off everyone's radar. He knew that it was better not to be noticed.

Now, looking in the dirty mirror in his just-as-dirty apartment, he realized that there was no more hiding, no more pretending. He was being dragged into a world that he had no control of, and his new face couldn't do anything about it. He wasn't a hit man. He didn't want to kill anyone anymore, least of all his new target. What kind of nerve did these people have, whoever they were? Making him kill a hero to his people. That's what she is, a hero. He can't do it, he just can't. Not now. He wasn't that man- that monster- anymore.

_But you are_, sneered his reflection. Rydam watched as his face in the glass morphed into the face of his past life.

"No," Rydam whined, "You are a murderer, a monster. I'm not you anymore."

_Yes you are. You know you are. You are me, and I am you. That will never change, _Rydam. The Adan-reflection spat his name like it was poison.

"No, you're not even real."

The Adan-reflection smiled at him with that stupid, boyish smile that Rydam had come to hate. _Whatever you say, _Rydam. _Just don't come crying to me when you realize the truth. Or should I say, don't come crying to you?_

Rydam punched the mirror as hard as he could, the tears coming back to his eyes. The damn indestructible glass refused to shatter. He hit it again and again, all the while watching the Adan-reflection laugh at him. He yelled as he turned away from that hellish mirror. Rydam sunk to the floor and rested his head on the wall. He cried himself to sleep listening to the Adan-reflection's demonic laugh.

That morning, Rydam awoke on the cold refresher floor, his eyes sore from crying and his mind scarred from dreams of mirrors and laughing. He looked at his hand. The blood on his knuckles was dried, but his first finger wasn't sitting right. He winced as he forced the dislocated finger back into its socket. He stood up and risked a glance at the mirror. All he saw was his face. Rydam's face. He looked up and started to laugh. _It wasn't real_, he told himself, _none of it was_. He looked back at the mirror just to be sure and nearly screamed out loud. That smile. It had been there. Rydam did everything he could to stay calm. It was gone now anyway. Then it hit him. It hit him like a ton of space junk in the face. It was _his_ smile. Adan's smile on Rydam's face.

_That's not fair,_ he thought,_ Why? The one thing that I hate the most about that low-life demented freak is the one thing of his that I still have._ Rydam tried to contain the anger that was swelling inside him. He didn't want to lash out on anything like he did last night. He knew from personal experience that it was a fine line between hurting inanimate objects and sentient ones.

Luckily, he was saved by his comm buzzing in the other room. He walked out to find the table still flipped and a gaping hole in the wall. He sighed and ruffled through the loose objects on the floor until he found his comm.

"Tevine," he answered, his voice sounding too much like the Adan-reflection of the previous night.

"Hey Rydam," a pleasant female voice answered, "Did you finish recording those runs from last month?"

Rydam winced as he remembered what he should have accomplished last night during his fit of terror. "Ah, no, but I'll have them done soon, I promise."

The woman on the other end sighed. "That's what you said last week, Rydam. It seems like you've been making a lot of promises lately that you haven't kept."

"Yeah, well, this time I really promise," he assured.

"You'd better," she scolded.

"Yeah, kay, thanks Salla,"

There was no answer other than static on her end. He flung the comm back to the floor. _Fine,_ he thought, _don't talk to me then._ He exhaled deeply and looked around. So much to do. He figured he'd start by picking up his mess.

There was a whir outside his apartment window that sounded a lot like a ship taking off. Rydam rushed to the window and looked out to see a ship, not taking off, but landing. It was an old YT-1300 freighter covered in rust and dents. It was definitely a smuggler's ship, but not one he knew. He'd have to ask Salla about it later. Until then, he had work to do.

* * *

**Hey, I'd love to here your opinions on this last section on Rydam. It's one of my favorite things that I've written, so I'd love to hear what you guys thought.**


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